Google is not going to like this – Hewlett-Packard has delayed an Android tablet until 2011, presumably in order to focus their energy on perfecting an upcoming device that will be powered by Palm’s resource-savvy webOS software. Sources “in position to know” told John Paczkowski of the Wall Street Journal’s Digital Daily blog that HP won’t have an Android device ready by the year’s end, as originally planned.

The story confirmed that a number of tablets running different operating systems are being developed by the computer maker. However, it looks like a webOS-powered device, presumably HP’s flagship and inaugural tablet device, has been given the highest priority, the author speculated:

Perhaps HP has decided to focus its resources on the future WebOS slate PC that its new Palm unit is developing. That device has a rumored fall launch date, and we’re already halfway through summer. Or perhaps the company is reconsidering its multi-OS tablet strategy in light of the Palm acquisition. After all, HP has said repeatedly it is “doubling down” on WebOS.

Christian’s Opinion

There’s no doubt that HP’s $1.2 billion acquisition of struggling Palm in late April brought a fresh perspective on gadget engineering, thanks to Palm’s former chairman and CEO Jon Rubinstein who now leads the Palm global business unit at HP. Rubinstein, 54, Apple’s former hardware chief who helped create the iPod, has successfully applied Apple’s design process at Palm and now appears to be doing the same to develop webOS-based “Hurricane” tablet at HP.

This means shelving redundant projects and focusing the company’s resources, no matter how vast they might be, to just a handful of projects that matter. This change in pace doesn’t bode well for Google. First Ballmer and company lost big when HP delayed Windows 7 slates due to the sluggishness of Microsoft’s software and now the company appears to have pushed Google’s software temporarily aside, too. We’ll see if HP’s bet on Palm and its webOS yields the desired results. I personally think that a HP tablet powered by webOS and designed by the Palm team will be awesome.

Reader Comments

hodar

I had the Palm Pre Plus for a little while. I didn’t realize it was possible to HATE an innanimate object as much as I hated that phone. I cannot imagine voluntarily subjecting myself to the WebOS in a tablet, and since I was one of the first adopters of the iPad – I won’t have to consider it.

So, I’m actually quite anxious to see what HP does with this. If they succeed; then the iPad will have a worthy competitor. But, I fear that this will be an unholy disaster of biblical proportions.

InfiniteRefrain

You would think that HP would look at customer reactions of the Pre, and the sales for those phones [after the initial release when people were able to see through the hype]. Dropping Android for webOS should be a spectacular failure with the exception of the people who hate Apple and will do anything for the next tablet to hit the market